On the move again

Many of you reading this already know that I spent three weeks in an area called the Whitsundays. The Whitsundays are a tropical playground for many Australians. It has some of the best sailing in the world, many would say the best but I disagree. I will say that the area is definitely one of the most memorable places I have seen.

A while back my friend Tara who is also on a working holiday here in OZ sent me a job ad. This ad was for a print shop and design studio called Graphic House. They are located in Cannonvale just outside Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach is the starting point for most people looking to spend time on the islands or go sailing. The main marina is located here and is a popular destination with backpackers. 

 

I decided that I should go up and check out this job, and visit with my friend. I had worked out a deal with the company that we would do a mutual trial period. So I headed up the the tropical destination like a moth driven to light to see what this place in the sun had to offer. 

 

After being in the area for a week just drinking and partying with Tara and her friends, I had already found that I was quite partial to the area. Week two was the start of my trial period with Graphic House. This was a trial for both Graphic House and myself. I wanted to see what they were all about, and they wanted to see what kind of person and designer I was. It didn't take long to realize that it was a good fit. 

 

After two weeks of working at Graphic House I had pretty much made up my mind that I wanted to work there. The only problem was Andrea. I couldn't drag her along if she didn't have work. It had been difficult enough finding work for her in Brisbane; actually it has been virtually impossible to find any work in her field. The gods were smiling down on us it seemed, because shortly after I started with Graphic House, she got a call from a public relations agency in Cannonvale. 

 

So Andrea hopped on a plane and met me in Airlie. After a brief interview the company realized Andrea's potential and offered her a position. This was great, but left us feeling like two small fish in a big ocean again. Up there we each now have full-time paying jobs with good companies, but nowhere to live and no transport. 

 

Taking into account all aspects of a move to the Whitsundays, and all that Brisbane has to offer, we made a decision to accept both our offers. This brings us to the present. We are both heading back to Brisbane to pack and clean up loose ends. In the mean time we are looking for furnished accommodation and some kind of vehicle. Sounds like another adventure.

 

Hope all reading are well. We will keep you posted about the move. 

 

What a Ute*!

(* and all other vehicles Australian)

When Will and I left for Australia, the only thing our friend Dave asked of us was to send fun and interesting photos of the vehicles here back home. Sadly we've failed at this task so far. I've had this blog in mind for two months now and I'm finally going to populate it with what Dave was looking for. And what better way to kick it off than with the quintessential Australian vehicle - the ute!

 

I'm unsure what "ute" actually stands for (is it cute? is it some sort of animal?) I have a sneaking suspicion that due to the way Aussies affectionately shorten most words in their vocabulary, a ute is short for a utility vehicle. They are basically a station wagon without the roof in the back; mostly sedan but yet useful in their own right. They are to Australians what pick-up trucks are to Canadians. Customize it, use it, make it your own. See the photos below. This black beauty I snapped at Surfers Paradise the other day. It came complete with its own custom mufflers. It reminded me of my brother's showpiece of a truck that he drove in university. Each year they have a weekend-long festival paying homage to this unique vehicle.

 

The array of vehicles here is amazing. Peugot, Citroen, Suzuki, Mercedes, Mitsubishi; they all share roadway with Ford and Australia's answer to General Motors; Holden. Oh yes, the Ford Falcon and even an updated version of the Ford Fairlane can be seen cruising around the streets. Datsun still has vehicles on the road here. More than once Will has seen his first car - a Datsun 280 ZX. And they have proper 4X4's here, many of them remind me of my uncle's old Toyota Landcruiser.

 

This last one - well I just can't explain it. Don't read or look too closely. Apparently backpacker vans are the largest, lewdest travelling billboards around! 

Scuba Trip - Day 54

There was a time in my life, long ago, that I was introduced to scuba diving. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world and I went and got my license right away. Even my open water certification dives that were held in a glacier feed lake didn't turn me off. I went diving with my parents on the British Columbia coast, and had dreams of maybe becoming a commercial diver.

For many years I had intentions to continue diving and to dive often. Somehow I never actually went diving all the time. Weeks and months went by; eventually years went by. Yet somehow those first dives feel like yesterday. I love diving and my parents for introducing it to me. So when Tara's friends asked me if I wanted to go diving with them, I jumped at the opportunity. Its weird but I felt as giddy as if it were my first dive. It's strange how the passage of time seems to affect some things like metal, memories, and our view on the world. Somehow the passage of time has never affected my view about scuba diving.

 

Maybe it was my childhood love of going diving rushing back, the weather, all the sights. I don't know, but what ever it was, it was definitely the best day I've had in a long time. 

 

Tara's friends work for a scuba diving charter company that is basically just a boat that goes out to meet other boats. Instead of having to carry all the equipment on board the charter boat, this high speed power boat meets you at a pre-defined destination and time. They have all the gear and dive instructors, so you don't even need to be licensed. Its a great set up. 

Because the dive boat is on a pre defined schedule, it will often get to the next dive long before the charter arrives. So they get a chance to have some lunch, play with the fish, and go for fun dives. This is where Tara and I got our chance to go out, on a fun dive before the work started. We tagged along with the boat, staying away most of the time, just watching as the dive instructors did their thing. 

 

It was a really nice day. After a quick ride on the boat we arrived at our destination. Right after getting there we were surrounded by fish. Here you can see one of the instructors, and Tara's friend Ebony (I hope I spelled it right) feeding the fish. They seem to like crackers. On a really funny note, you need a license to feed fish here. Not exactly sure how you'd enforce that one?

Here is Tara taking a nap before lunch. We had just gone for a quick snorkel around the boat to check out the fish. Mmmmm, burger! yum yum yum.... This was the other instructor on the trip, just catchin' some rays. I forgot his name. Sorry "nameless dive instructor." Below is one one of the "MAXI" yatchs that sail around the Whitsundays. These are basically converted racing vessels; not much more than sailing bunk house. This one, British Defender, is also one of the boats Tara has worked on.  It was a great day and I took nearly 200 photos. These are but a few choice picks. I could have put more up, but you would have all gotten tired by now. Also I would have used up all my space for posting images.

 

It was a wonderful day, and I look forward to another dive trip.

Can my fortune be changing?

This past Sunday I saw Will off to the airport. He flew off to the Whitsundays on a double mission. First, he is going to connect with a job opportunity at a place called Graphic House. Second, he's going to spend some time visiting with our good friend Tara and her boyfriend Chris who live in Airlie Beach. Me? Well I'm holding down the fort here in Brisbane.

This week I started my second job. I began my training with Starbucks yesterday. It's a bit tricky trying to balance two full-time work schedules between both jobs, but I'm able to do it. I'm also still cruising the job sites daily and applying to PR jobs all over the country.

 

Yesterday, on a whim, I opened up a document Will had forwarded to me from a resort on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. It had the contact information for a PR firm up in Cannonvale (basically part of Whitsunday territory). Being the plucky person I am, I wrote a brief e-mail of introduction to the PR firm and attached my resume asking if they were hiring. Today I got instant responses: yes, they are hiring, and when can I come in for an interview? It's a two-hour flight away, so I won't be getting up there for another week and a half. But I think it's worth making the trip. Why? It could have something to do with the phone call I placed to Will later today to share my good fortune, and he shared with me how he, Tara and Chris were all sitting on the patio at Tara's place looking at the ocean and enjoying a beer. Sign me up for some of that!

I Hate Packing

You might think that someone who loves to travel and see the world would enjoy packing. It’s the last thing you do before you start a journey. It should be full of anxiety, adrenaline, and thoughts of trip ahead. Yet packing is such a chore.

Now packing for a small vacation somewhere warm is rather fun. All you need is a couple pairs of shorts, some shirts, a pair of sandals, a bathing suit, a towel, and maybe some other small items. Yet the packing I have been doing again and again this trip is so much more than assembling a simple warm get-away bag. Every where I go either involves a massive move, like Bermagui to Brisbane, or the packing I am doing for the next two weeks I will be in Airlie Beach/Cannonvale. The problem is that I need to pack items for a week of holiday and a week of work. Work I've never done. So what do you pack? What do you leave behind? What can you live without? What can't you live without? It's a very difficult problem.

 

This is why I hate packing. Packing is such a simple chore that could mean two weeks of bliss or misery. For example, the last two jobs I had here were very different in that one office was very warm and the next was so cold I had three layers on. How do you plan for that? What do pack? I don't know. If I were in Calgary it would be a bit easier because the dress code is generally more relaxed. Here, a casual day involves dress pants, dress shoes, and a dress shirt - the shirt maybe more daring than other days. A normal office generally expects that you will wear a full suit. And I do mean full.

 

Brisbane's business environment is very different than other places I have been. It is extremely formal. More than - and I am guessing here - 30% of businessmen wear three piece suits; pants, vest, and jacket. This is a very well dressed city, but it is all suits. Walking through the streets downtown I was amazed at the lack of diversity in attire. It is like Brisbane has a dress code.

 

Just to clarify, denim is worn. Denim can be worn to work on Friday. Denim is not always a pair jeans. Denim is not always worn to work on Friday. Denim seems to still relegated to the working class here or just the casual weekend wear. This might be in part due to the volume of transients and surfer types that live in jeans, so office attire is at minimum a pair of slacks and dress shirt in reaction to what jeans are perceived to embody.

 

So now you have some idea why I hate packing. I need to pack for walks on the beach, pack warm and cold office clothes. The clothes themselves aren't so bad, it's the shoes that take up all the space. Packing two pairs of shoes (one pair dress shoes and one pair of sandals) takes up all the space in the suitcase. I hate packing.

 

So remember the next time you are going somewhere and are feeling a little frustrated about packing. It could always be worse!

Surfer's Paradise - Day 43

Monday meant it was Labour Day in Queensland. Many chose to drink the day away. Will chose to get up and go to work to find out no one was in the office. (In may own defense, my work confirmation said start Monday). I chose to sleep in! Either way, by the time Will got home I was awake and ready for our next adventure; Surfer's Paradise. 

Now Surfer's Paradise does have surf - good or great is up to you - and some might think it is paradise, but the name was not chosen due to the beguiling location. Apparently sometime in the '30s or '40s they* were looking for a way to market that area to tourists. The town looked no farther than the Surfer's Paradise Hotel where all the backpackers and surf bums hung out for their inspiration. A tourist trap was born! 

* { They = the anonymous few who control the universe }

 

Nowadays, Surfer's Paradise looks more like a Miami, Florida wanna be. Imagine huge skyscrapers perched on the edge where sand and wave meet, following the coast for miles. For those trivia buffs, there is a Miami Australia just down the road from Surfers Paradise. The trip took nearly two hours by train and bus, but it was worth it! With a bit more planning, the trip should only take about an hour and half. 

 

High rolling surf pounds the beach while the squeals of young and old fill the air as they frolic and dance about the waves. Surfers and boarders eagerly paddling their way out, looking for the next thrill. The smells of salt, greasy food, and sugar hang in the air like a 747; just hanging there, thumbing its nose at the laws of physics. The air is thick with smells and sounds, so dense you think every molecule of air should fall to the ground, and so big it hits you square between the eyes (In my own writing defence, do you think I'd put references to planes or physics in a blog?). You just can't duplicate that.

We went for a walk down the boardwalk, and Will couldn't resist playing in the sand for a while. After, we walked down the streets looking at all of the shops. Surfer's Paradise has something to offer all budgets. From the Rusty, Billabong and Quiksilver shops to Prada, Gucci and Hermes at the Galleria, you could be fooled into thinking Surfer's Paradise was the capital city of Queensland, not Brisbane.

 

It was loud, noisy and perhaps we shouldn't have investigated on a holiday, but we're both glad we went. It was something new, and for two who are chained to destinations reachable by foot, it was a welcome vacation. The Gold Coast region has a lot to explore and now with "winter" on it's way, perhaps we can explore it more freely now that it's the off-season.

The Flavour of Brisbane

As we settle into Australia, Brisbane, jobs, and our new lives, it's occurred to us that we've really been cheating everyone else who reads the blog as to what's going on. We apologize for leaving all of you in the dark about our boring lives. To be frank, not a lot has been happening. We get up, shower, catch the train, work, eat lunch, catch the train home... lather, rinse, repeat. Oh, there is also the never ending photo search. Here is a typical outing with Will.

I thought, perhaps, this was a good time to give you a better idea of what Brisbane looks like. The city itself is located slightly inland from the east coast. The city is also sandwiched between the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Many a delightful weekend get-away to be had; and easy access (think Surfer's Paradise folks).

While your "oot and aboot" (sorry, a little Canadiana humour) in Brisbane, one thing you will notice right a way is that there is music everywhere. It's one thing to have a little song in your head when your on the move, it's something else for everyone else to have the same song in their head. Below is a fairly common sight in Brisbane, the street corner DJ, guitar, or didgeridoo player. This city literally moves to its own beats. (Look on balcony)

People can commute pretty much anywhere in Brisbane by taking bus, train or the ferry system. The ferry system consists of high speed catamarans (CityCat) and rather un-interesting small passenger ferries, for just near the city centre. How cool is that? 

 

Below is a scene from the shores of South Bank. South Bank is a public activity and recreation area on the, you guessed it, south side of the river. South Bank literally looks on the downtown of Brisbane. In this photo you can see one of city ferries traversing the river to the other shore.

This is one of the other forms of river transport in Brisbane. 

Although everyone we've asked in Brisbane has had the same reaction to swimming in the river, they still play on the river. The common response to swimming in the river were as if it were a nuclear waste dump. They look at you as if you'd just had lobotomy. "Why, why why why... why would you do that!?" We've been given many reasons - there are sharks, rockfish, it's polluted, there are too many boats, etc. And yet they seem to have no problems sailing, water skiing, seadoo-ing; just not swimming. 

This city has a real arts community with nearly 30 theatre companies large and small. There are many outdoor art and live performances usually free to the public. It feels like a modern version of the Renaissance with so much culture at your fingertips. What Renaissance would be complete without the dirty outer bits. Its really a tale of two cities. Brisbane's city centre has many districts, like the infamous Fortitude Valley area, that were once home to all the nasty parts of society. The stuff we usually like to think doesn't exist. But now the Valley is more of a cultural mecca, with trendy fashion shops that are renowned for forward thinking and pre-runway styles. Yet after the sun goes down, the the other face, the more traditional face of the valley surfaces; nowhere near the disfigured phantom it once was. More like a well worn pair of dress shoes. Great looking when worn, but will clear a room when off. Daytime brings some of the best, nighttime brings some of the worst.

 

And finally, here's where we've been living for nearly a month now (look to the top floor on your right). This guesthouse is rather swank; a typical colonial Queenslander mansion. We enjoy it here, although it's a bit expensive. We're looking for our own place, but we'll need to work a while first. As soon as we have one though, you're all invited for a house-warming!

And this is our room at the moment. 

Yes it's frilly. 

Yes, it's pink. 

No, staying in this room doesn't make Will any more of a girl than he already is!